2003 Soap Box Archives

An Open Letter To The Media 03/04/03

I thank God for freedom of the press, unhampered by government control.
It is a blessing which is non existent in a lot of countries.

But with freedom comes responsibility, and in the case of the media this
should constitute fairness, telling both sides of the story. Opinion
and agenda driven journalism should be relegated to the editorial page.

The American people need to know the truth, the whole truth, which means
reporting things which go outside the boundaries of personal politics.
Even if it makes the other side look good once in a while.
I’m glad to see Fox News come on line, at least they usually give both
sides of the story. They are often accused of being a conservative
network but the truth of the matter is that this nation has not heard TV
coverage which has not been tilted to the left in so long that when they
do get fair and balanced coverage to some liberals it seems conservative.

For instance, the other night one of their correspondents interviewed
some of the anti - war protesters asking them what the alternative to
going to war with Iraq would be. The standard answer was,”I don’t know”.

So here are a bunch of young people out in the street demonstrating
against a war and they don’t even know why. Does this make any sense
and why didn’t Peter Jennings and company talk to some of these people?

And I don’t mean that Fox is perfect but they sure report more of the
news than the other channels do.

And why doesn’t the media tell the truth about abortion, that it is
profit driven and why can’t they show a partial birth abortion? Too
gruesome you say? Well just how gruesome is it for the baby who is
being cruelly murdered?

And why do they try to pillory a man like Billy Graham who has devoted
every hour of his adult life to good works, by quoting an old statement
which was taken out of context concerning Jews. Billy Graham loves the
Jews and Israel, the media knows that but they just don’t care. I think
that’s not telling the whole story, irresponsible journalism.

And what about coverage of the Islamic prisoners in Guantanamo Bay? Why
don’t they tell the military’s side of that story?

And why do they follow Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton around like loyal
puppy dogs ignoring Jackson’s shady financial dealings and Sharpton’s
propensity for causing violence?

And why do they love to tell us bad news about the economy when there’s
also good things happening?

I know the reason why. The network news and many of the large
newspapers in this country have a liberal political agenda and they know
that if the news is presented fairly that you’ll be less likely to
swallow their line and go along with their thinking.

The front page of a newspaper should not look like the editorial page.
Think about it, do you ever wonder why The Washington Post and the New
York Times seldom have anything good to say about President Bush?
Doesn’t he ever do anything which deserves praise?

And do you ever wonder why they never say anything bad about Hillary
Clinton? Doesn’t she do something once in a while which deserves
criticism?

Think about the kind of America these people are pushing for and be
extremely careful how much of their coverage you believe.

Is it the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels